Devil’s Lake State Park: “Situated along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Devil’s Lake State Park offers magnificent views from 500-foot quartzite bluffs overlooking a 360-acre lake. Visitors enjoy nearly 30 miles of hiking trails, lakeshore picnic areas, swimming beaches, paddling opportunities, and year-round naturalist programs.”
Muggy, buggy start to the visit. Lars and I arrived in early evening, which was still very busy. We lucked out getting a campsite at very last-minute (likely due to the DwD cancellation). We went for a humid walk around the campsite and back out on an external loop, before returning to camp.
After getting camp set up, with Lars behaving very chill and content on long-lead, I got dinner together for each of us. While prepping dinner, I got a text from Seth saying “Hopefully the weather doesn’t come your way”… Well, good thing he checked in, because a quick glance at the forecast told me I had maybe 20 minutes to pack up camp before weather arrived.
Lars was doing so well, until he wasn’t. I think the darkening of the sky spooked him; as I was transferring him over to his leash, he broke away and proceeded to sprint through the backwoods nearby. Thankfully, he stayed relatively close, and a very kind neighbor helped me spot him. He wore himself out in maybe five minutes (though it felt like an hour), and we got in the car just as the rain started spritzing. As we were driving out of the park, it began pouring rain, with the darkness of deep dusk.
We went to a parking lot of a nearby restaurant (that a lot of people were leaving, since there was outdoor seating), and just stayed there for the next hour (about 0.9 inches of rain’s worth). The scariest part was Lars’ apparent panic attack - he was panting heavily for most of the next 30-40 minutes, and only started to come after I’d sat in the backseat with him for about half an hour. [He’s back to his crazy self now, not to worry!]
Once the rain stopped, we had a decision. It looked like there could be another strong thunderstorm before the night would be through, so I decided to just quick check-out a trail and make a decision. There was a gorgeous double arc in the pink and purple sky, and Lars and I got to check out the very beginning portion of the Steinke Basin Loop Trail (where Dances with Dirt trail run would have started). It was a calm end to a tumultuous evening, so I just decided to head home rather than try to re-establish camp. Beautiful park, and I can’t wait to go back and hike the main lake trail!